The cover of the June 1970 issue of our Rajio Terebi Sangyo (Radio and TV Industry) monthly magazine carried the title “Audio senka tokusetsu” (New Audio Special Course), and more than half of the 130 pages contained audio-related articles. Our targeted readership was audio equipment makers and retail stores. When we later distributed a sample magazine together with an application form and started receiving subscription orders, almost all the companies to which we had sent the sample responded. After that, advertisements from makers and trading companies steadily increased, and our special magazine became a fixture in the industry.
The first publication of Audio Senka was the May 1972 issue. However, when I carried the freshly printed magazines to Shitaya Post Office, the assistant there refused to accept them because that title was not registered for third-class mail. I was horrified. I tried to negotiate, but the assistant would not budge. Ashamed at my own ignorance, I was mortified by what I had done and almost burst into tears.
Then someone who appeared to be a senior employee at the post office came over from the back, handed me an application form, and told me to apply right away. I dashed back to our office about 15 minutes away and, after getting a scolding from our president, filled out the application form, which I immediately took back to Shitaya Post Office. It was accepted on the spot, so I was able to get the magazines off safely. All thanks to that senior employee at the post office. I had committed a massive blunder, but it turned out to be a good lesson for me. I did not make the same mistake again, and I worked hard to make up for the nuisance I had caused.
In putting the magazine together, I placed more importance than anything else on the questionnaire replies that we received from readers. When a reader pointed out something they disliked, I would phone them, listen to the details, and reflect the matter in the publication. I made sure that this reader-oriented approach was thoroughly carried out.
At that time my daily schedule involved going to the office and, when I didn’t have any business trip to make, spending the mornings gathering manuscripts from writers. In the afternoons I would be searching for advertisements and doing my own reporting. I would do my writing after returning home, sometimes burning the midnight oil until three in the morning. I didn’t mind, though, because I enjoyed editing work more than anything else. As with that senior employee at the post office, who helped me out at an awkward moment, I have been blessed by various assistance from many people over the years.
I myself was never really an audio enthusiast, so at first, whenever I looked at some audio equipment, I would always quiver with a sense of inferiority. Gradually, with the support of many people, I became more confident, although when it came to specialized knowledge, I was still at a loss. President Komiya of Micro Seiki Co., Ltd. introduced President Iwama to Hirotsugu Saito, a writer in his late thirties who was contributing to the magazine Toranjisuta Gijutsu (Transistor Technology) under the pen name Shigeru Furuya, and Mr. Saito, President Iwama, and I met at a crab restaurant near our office. After that, Mr. Saito took charge of technical matters at our company, writing many articles and giving us lots of valuable advice. That was the decisive hit leading to the growth of Audio Senka. I am eternally grateful to him.
After receiving third-class mail approval, we decided to go ahead with the publication of Audio Senka, which therefore officially got off to a start with the June 1972 issue. The covers were created by Takeo Okawa, an artist and designer who graduated from the Tokyo University of the Arts and was a friend of President Iwama. The imposing oil paintings on the covers proved to be very popular, as did the reader-oriented contents.